Presidential elections in Venezuela will be held on July 28, the National Electoral Council announced

(CNN Spanish) — Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) announced this Tuesday that the country’s presidential elections will be held on Sunday, July 28.

CNE President Elvis Amoroso announced the date in a press conference, four days after the organization received a document from the National Assembly containing 27 proposals for election days.

Amoroso also presented a schedule for the elections that sets out deadlines for specific activities: from March 18 to April 16, the electoral registry will be updated; Nomination of candidates from 21st to 25th March and election campaign from 4th to 25th July.

President of the National Assembly of Venezuela Jorge Rodríguez said on January 25 that the candidate of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) would be President Nicolás Maduro, although the formalization of his candidacy is still pending.

Maduro has ruled Venezuela since April 2013. He assumed the presidency after the death of Hugo Chávez, whose eleventh death anniversary is celebrated this March 5. Furthermore, according to the program presented by the CNE, the date of the next election coincides with the birth of the late president.

On the other hand, most opposition parties chose María Corina Machado as their candidate, who won the October primary elections with more than 90% of the vote. However, last January, Venezuela’s Supreme Court confirmed that Machado was ineligible to be a candidate.

The opposition leader rejected the decision, arguing that he should be allowed to compete in the election and affirming that opposition political forces do not consider a “Plan B” to seek candidacy for another person.

Holding presidential elections in the second half of 2024 is part of the Barbados agreement that the Maduro government and the opposition signed last October, but breaks a tradition from 2012 that established that the country would hold presidential elections. First Sunday of December.

In fact, the last presidential election that Hugo Chávez won was in October 2012, while in 2018 Maduro won the elections held in May of the same year.